[TwoOuter]

I hope this isn't taken the wrong way, because I'm the last person to advocate insurance fraud, but I do believe in fairness:

My truck got hit last year by a woman who missed a stop sign. It was considered totalled, which doesn't take much these days as repair costs are beyond belief.

The woman's insurance company lowballed me on the value. The only leverage I had was to 1) get checked by a doctor and 2) start documenting every minute I spent getting estimates, away from work, arranging alternate transportation, everything.

Re: the doctor visit- I had no intention of claiming non-existent injuries. But I know from experience that certain injuries are not initially apparent, and it's good to have this visit on record in the event of a LEGITIMATE injury.

Re: compensation for lost time

I believe it's reasonable to be compensated for time spent dealing with replacing a car due to an accident that's not your fault. There is a "lost wages/medical costs" component of the insurance claim that's separate from the car damage and by not signing off on this you can pressure the insurer to make a fair settlement.

Ultimately, the insurance adjuster just wants to get your case over with and has a lot of flexibility to accomplish this. If you truly wish to keep the car you may be able to get the adjuster not to total it and offer you a bit less on the car damage side, and make up for it on the lost wages side.

Again- I'm not saying you should scam your way into coming out better than you were going in. But in my opinion you shouldn't have to come out worse.